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Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/Eraiyanbupeterfrancis/AutoBackupTool/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

AutoBackupTool encrypts every backup using Fernet symmetric encryption from the cryptography library. Your data is encrypted in memory before any network transfer occurs — nothing unencrypted ever leaves your machine.

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How encryption works

When you trigger a backup, AutoBackupTool runs the following pipeline entirely in memory:
  1. Compress — the selected folder is zipped into an in-memory buffer using zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED.
  2. Encrypt — the zip buffer is encrypted with your Fernet key, producing an encrypted binary blob.
  3. Upload — the encrypted blob is uploaded to Google Drive as a .enc file.
When you restore, the process runs in reverse: download → Fernet decrypt → unzip to destination folder. At no point is unencrypted data written to a temporary file.

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Generate your encryption key

AutoBackupTool includes encrypt.py to generate a new key: 
from cryptography.fernet import Fernet
print(Fernet.generate_key().decode())
Run it from your project directory: 
python encrypt.py
This prints a base64-encoded key to your terminal: 
gAAAAAB...
Copy the entire output — you will paste it into backup.env in the next step.
Fernet keys are 32 bytes of random data, encoded as URL-safe base64. The same key is used to both encrypt and decrypt — keep it secret, keep it safe.

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Store the key in backup.env

Open (or create) backup.env in your project directory and set ENCRYPTION_KEY to the value you just generated: 
ENCRYPTION_KEY=YOUR_ENCRYPTION_KEY_HERE
CLIENT_SECRETS_FILE=client_secrets.json
Replace YOUR_ENCRYPTION_KEY_HERE with the full key string printed by encrypt.py.

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How the key is loaded at runtime

backup_utils.py loads the key from backup.env at startup using python-dotenv, then passes it directly to Fernet: 
ENCRYPTION_KEY = os.getenv("ENCRYPTION_KEY")

fernet = Fernet(ENCRYPTION_KEY.encode())
encrypted = fernet.encrypt(buf.read())
The key is read once when the module loads and held in memory for the duration of the session. No key material is written to disk beyond what is already in backup.env.
If you lose your encryption key, you cannot decrypt your existing backups — there is no recovery mechanism. Store your key in a password manager or a secure note. Never commit backup.env to git.

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